The Oratory, movie, to tackle menace of street children premiered in Abuja

The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), Business In  Nigeria (BIN), in Collaboration with Italian-Nigerian Business Association, premiered a Movie: The Oratory”, as part of its campaign to end the menace of street children in Nigeria.

The film, which is based on a true life story influenced by the Salesians of Don Bosco and produced and directed by the Nigerian director, Obi Emelonye, was premiered at Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, Ceddi plaza Abuja, on Saturday.

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Nigerian, international actors and actresses starred in the movie filmed in Lagos, Atalanta, Turin and Rome. 

According to the Executive Producer of the Movie, Dr. Cyril Odia, who is a Catholic priest, the movie is to call for action.

He said, “The attempt of this movie is to call for action. As Salesians, we believe in faith in action.

“If we don’t multiply that effect and get more partners to come on board, we can foresee that there is going to be disaster. The more young people are increasing on the street, the more the threat of insecurity.

“The movie has received a very positive and heartwarming response from two categories of viewers.

“For some viewers, the positive ending of the story confirms the desire for good to always overcome evil especially in the light of modern-day Christian persecution.

“For other viewers the movie gives hope about the Catholic mission to young and poor people who often have little or no hope in politicians. Many got a validation of the idea that religion has a lot of capacity to bring about social change.”

Commenting on the movie, the Emeratus Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Olurunfemi Onaiyekan, said the menace of street children concerns every part of our society, starting from the family.

He said it is important that we stress that parents should not throw away their children.

Onaiyekan said, “We have a major issue right now in the North about the Almajiri system. These are young boys mainly who have been abandoned by their respective parents. We know that many of them end up as Boko Haram terrorists.

“The film also has challenged the church, because within the church, there are people who just feel that there are certain categories of people who don’t belong, and they look down on them, even the priests themselves are not too sure how far we can go. So, this film challenges us to realize that Jesus welcomes everyone.”